Historical Context (To Kill A Mockingbird)

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To Kill A Mockingbird **note, this is not my work, but a compilation of works found on this site.

Historical context American Civil War

Occurred 1861 - 1865 between Northern US and Confederate States of America

Main cause was disagreement over slavery; North wanted to abolish it, and won

After abolishment in Maycomb, there still weren't equal rights, ie. blacks not entitled to education

People like Cunninghams blamed end of slavery for the loss of profit/land/status

The Great Depression (1930s)

Stock market crash on Black Tuesday (29 October 1929) triggered worldwide economic depression

Lasted from end of 1929 to early 1940s

To Kill A Mockingbird is set in the 1930's, during The Great Depression (although published in the 1960's)

"Nothing to buy and no money to buy it with" - Scout

"There was no hurry for there was no where to go" - Scout

Effected stock market and crop prices

Average income dropped by 40% between 1929 - 1932

Wall Street Crash affected country folk (Atticus discusses this with Scout)

WPA was a work force campaign set up to create jobs to those affected by the Wall Street Crash (Bob Ewell being one of them)

Atticus explains how "country folk" were affected by the Wall Street Crash, telling Scout that they are indeed poor, despite his occupation

Bob Ewell worked for the WPA

Roosevelt and the New Deal

Hebert Hoover = president during Great Depression

Roosevelt won in 1932

He began new programmes, shut banks down until they were stable to try and sort out the economy

Black people in society

Slavery was abolished in 1865, but still powerless

Originally brought from Africa (17th - 19th century) as slaves on the fields

Hung by mobs without trial

Paid less than whites

Required to work harder

Given 'dirty work'

Hanging of black people was common in 1930s because of KKK

Laws which allowed discrimination against blacks, such as Jim Crow Laws, enforced in America between 1976 and 1965, made it hard for blacks to stand up

Whites thought themselves superior to blacks

Couldn't marry whites

Had separate schools, churches, football teams and cemeteries

"I want to know why you bringin' white chillun to nigger church" - Lulu (Cal's friend)

Tom lost the case purely because of his skin colour; "licked" before he even begins.

Ku Klux Klan (KKK)

Founded in 1865

Fought for Confederate States of America

White Christian extremists who hated black people and some whites from the North

Mostly while Anglo-Saxon Protestants

Anyone who was not part of their cult was inferior

Infamous for night time meetings when they would wear white and march around, beating up black people in mobs

In Georgia 1924-25, 135 people were executed

Reached a peak of 4 million members in the 1920s

Great Depression stirred numbers (because of crime and division) which reduced their clan to 30 000 by the 1940s.

In chapter 15, smaller scale KKK behaviour takes place outside the Maycomb jail

Women in society

Gender inequality

Women only allowed to vote in 1920s, but not be on the jury

Only white men were allowed on the jury

Ms Maudie Atkinson isn't allowed on the jury because she's a woman

Scottsboro Case (1931)

Harper Lee may have based TKAM upon the Scottsboro case

Occurred in 1931, when Harper Lee was 5

Nine young black men accused of raping two white women on trial

No medical evidence to show rape

Almost lynched on way to trial

Four men sentenced to lifelong imprisonment/ all sentenced to death but one

The women were found out to be lying later on

Time of Publishing

Published in 1960s (written in 1950s)

Ironic because black people were campaigning for civil rights, with white people changing ways